After a semiconductor integrated circuit chip has been manufactured it must be affixed to a leadframe or package substrate. Connections are made between the bond pads of the chip and the leadframe or package substrate to enable electrical signals to be transmitted between the integrated circuit and the leadframe or package substrate. One way of making these connections is flip chip bonding where solder balls are formed on the bond pads of the chip and then the chip is inverted and a solder joint is formed to the leadframe or package substrate. In one flip chip solder joint attachment method, metal posts (usually copper) are first electroplated on top of the integrated circuit chip bond pads. The chip is then inverted and the electroplated posts are soldered to the lead frame or package substrate. The copper post technology has two problems. First, the surface of the electroplated copper post is not planar. This may cause in voids in the solder joint between the post and the leadframe or package substrate. The voids may result in a poor electrical contact and also may result in a reliability failure. Second, different area posts grow vertically (electroplate) at different rates resulting in posts with different heights. This makes it difficult to form uniform solder joints between the tops of the posts and the planar lead frame or package substrate.